Prayer

Matthew 21:22 says, "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." Verses like these which are meant to encourage genuine faith often leads into a vert dangerous way of thinking. When our prayers seem ineffective, we begin to question whether we had ‘enough’ faith. This leads us to think that if we just work up a little more faith, then God would answer our prayers. The fundamental problem here is that we shift our attention from God, who is the object of faith, to faith itself. We turn faith into a work, thinking that prayer will only be effective if we know how the system works. We can’t create faith for ourselves; it’s is a gift of God. However, our faith will be strengthened by setting our eyes on God himself. We must see God as a loving Father, and we must trust him to give us the faith we need to pray rightly. We must have a bigger view of God than someone who will only work for us if we get things right. He’s the one working in us and enabling us to get things right. And even if we don’t have the proper faith, God is not bound. Nothing prohibits him from answering the prayers of selfish and doubting saints. He often does exactly this with me in order to show me his love, power, and freedom. Prayer is not the key to a machine to get what you want, it’s the key to a loving relationship where God where we can freely come to God and freely be blessed by him.